“To deal more effectively and urgently with the challenges that confront us, I will appoint a minister of electricity in the presidency to assume full responsibility for overseeing all aspects of the electricity crisis response, including the work of the national energy crisis committee.”
Those were the words of President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday when he delivered his annual state of the nation address. They formed part of a wide range of measures to stop load-shedding, which is killing businesses and households and taking lives, and were meant to show a fresh sense of urgency and that the government — more specifically the president — understands the scale of the electricity crisis.
Since Eskom escalated load-shedding Ramaphosa has spent time in consultation with various stakeholders — business, labour and political parties and his committee — about what more to do to breathe life into his July 2022 energy action plan. He even cancelled the annual trip to Davos, Switzerland, to deal with the domestic crisis, which has dampened investor confidence and is the main reason for the 0.3% annual GDP growth estimate.
So Thursday’s batch of mostly electricity-related announcements, including declaring a state of national disaster (akin to the 2020-2022 Covid-19 state of national disaster), was supposed to engender hope — the other central organising idea around his address. Instead, it failed.
Far from inspiring hope, the announcement that SA is about to have an electricity minister has become the subject of national ridicule; the same, if not more ridicule, that greeted the governing party’s instruction to Ramaphosa to declare a national state of disaster.
Unlike the state of disaster idea, the origins of the electricity ministry are unknown. Many people in and outside his party, including his political allies, were taken by surprise when the announcement was made. It also remains as clear as mud exactly what this minister’s role will be.
On Thursday, anticipating criticism, Ramaphosa sought to clarify the role by saying: “The [electricity] minister will focus full-time and work with the Eskom board and management on ending load-shedding and ensuring that the Energy Action Plan is implemented without delay.
Intense speculation
“So as to remove any confusion, the minister of public enterprises [Pravin Gordhan] will remain the shareholder representative of Eskom and steer the restructuring of Eskom, ensure the establishment of the transmission company, oversee the implementation of the just energy transition programme, and oversee the establishment of the State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Holding Company.”
Without much clarity, the inevitable has occurred: intense speculation has ensued about the role, including the seniority of the incoming minister. In an interview with the Sunday Times, party chair and mineral resources & energy minister Gwede Mantashe played down the scope of the role, describing it as a “project manager”.
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula said the new minister is a temporary measure that does not signal a deviation from the party’s resolution to make Mantashe’s department responsible for overseeing Eskom. It is unclear how Mantashe and Gordhan — who do not see eye to eye on Eskom’s problems — will relate to this new ministry.
Since the announcement, likely candidates for the new minister have been bandied about, including Kgosientsho “Sputla” Ramokgopa, now head of infrastructure, and Paul Mashatile, Ramaphosa’s new deputy in the party, who has been sworn in as an MP.
The new ministry is a bad idea, and should be ditched. Not only will it cause more confusion and unnecessary turf wars, it will further extend an already bloated cabinet.
Compiling reports
Until last Thursday there might have been a few South Africans willing to accept the challenge of succeeding André de Ruyter as Eskom CEO. With the announcement of the ministerial post that list must have evaporated.
In 2014 then president Jacob Zuma set up many structures, including an Eskom “war room”, to end load-shedding. This was a source of resentment in the management, which was forced to spend more time compiling and presenting reports for parliament, the board and the war room than searching for solutions to the load-shedding crisis.
Worse, it significantly blurred the reporting lines for executive management until Brian Molefe came and asked for the war room to be discontinued to allow his team to focus on load-shedding.
Like apologies, climbdowns are unpopular among politicians because they tend to chip away at the credibility of those making them. So it would be understandable for the president to be reluctant to rethink this idea of a new minister. In the past few days his office has had to deal with an embarrassing part of his speech that appeared to be criticising Thabo Mbeki’s famous “I am an African” speech.
However, it is not too late for a rethink. In fact, instead of diminishing Ramaphosa’s stature, it would ultimately be enhanced I he does not proceed with the appointment.
• Dludlu, a former Sowetan editor, is CEO of the Small Business Institute.
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